Add text after glaze firing

I need to add text to the rim of a white dinner plate. The plate will be sold to be used for food, so I need the final product to be safe for food, dishwasher, microwave, etc., and extremely durable. I plan on buying dishes that have already been glaze fired, then adding my text to them.

What would be the best & easiest approach to insure that the text comes out clear without any bleeding? I'm open to anything! I was thinking of maybe stenciling the text on, or using a vinyl decal. I need something that will be easy because I'm planning on doing hundreds of plates.

Please help! I've searched the web and this forum for hours and haven't been able to find the answer, and as you can tell I need all the help I can get. Thanks, anything is MUCH appreciated!

I would buy a dozen extra at least for tests ... Can you get a vinyl Stencil with the script then try a low fire over glaze and an underglaze. Bleeding will depend on the color you choose as some bleed more than others .... Black might be safe??

I'm just guessing so you might be better off calling a supplier like Amaco or Axner and asking for their advice.

Is the text different for each plate? or all the same? if its the same how about having ceramic decals made -you can make them or have them made. If its different how about a gold pen which is fired to luster temperatures . Gold text pops on white glaze. This job will bring a host of issues and testing will be the thing to do.Hopefully your are a ceramicist. Over firing a low temp glaze will need to be tested-Chris said it best buy a few dozen plates for testing. Crisp edges will be an issue-let us know how this turns out?
Mark

Be very careful when using overglaze enamels (china paints) and ceramic decals. Many of the sources readily available contain some lead as a flux to get them to melt at the very low temperatures. Make sure to research this carefully for both moral (don't want to inadvertantly hurt anyone) and legal reasons (US FDA and State of California laws apply to this kind of thing).

Also, many reds and oranges and such contain cadmium compounds as colorants even if the base glaze is "lead free", and so too present potential leaching hazards and some FDA/California legal constraints.

Even the lead and cadmium free overglazes are not all the durable in "food service" kinds of conditions. The glaze is low in silica and hence is "soft". Depending on the formulation of the higher fired glaze substrate that the overglaze is fired onto, the bond between the two can be good or weak....... this is a technical area of necessary exploration also.

Care will be needed in the usage of thes kinds of wares over time. Careful washing, no harsh abrasives, and so on. Automatic diswashers with the high temperatures as well as abrasive and strong cleaners are a no-no. (Ditto for fired gold).

Overglazes and overglaze decals will give you the very exacting and hard-edged results you might desire. If you are not highly experienced at this kind of work though, I'd also recommend the idea of doing the graphics in a computer design program, and then having a decal manufacturer make the decals for you. Then you apply and fire the work.

You will STILL need to test both the decal application techniques (it is sometimes not as easy as it looks), and also the exact firing profiel and end points.

Get the book "China Paint and Overglaze" by Paul Lewing as a good reference if you go this route.

I'm with Chris........ wedding? If you are not a ceramist yourself....... I'd also recomment hiring someone who knows what they are doing to execute this for you. You are going to find a pretty steep learning curve. Spend the bucks ;)src="http://ceramicartsda...ault/wink.gif"> .

I need to add text to the rim of a white dinner plate. The plate will be sold to be used for food, so I need the final product to be safe for food, dishwasher, microwave, etc., and extremely durable. I plan on buying dishes that have already been glaze fired, then adding my text to them.

I need to add text to the rim of a white dinner plate. The plate will be sold to be used for food, so I need the final product to be safe for food, dishwasher, microwave, etc., and extremely durable. I plan on buying dishes that have already been glaze fired, then adding my text to them.

What would be the best & easiest approach to insure that the text comes out clear without any bleeding? I'm open to anything! I was thinking of maybe stenciling the text on, or using a vinyl decal. I need something that will be easy because I'm planning on doing hundreds of plates.

Please help! I've searched the web and this forum for hours and haven't been able to find the answer, and as you can tell I need all the help I can get. Thanks, anything is MUCH appreciated!

You could try stencil and sandblasting. This would give you an effect that while not obvious would be present. Other option here is to sandblast apply a stain to blasted areas and then refire.

I was curious about the reply on using a "decal"...I was interested in doing some decal work a while back but could only find one source (and not even close to local) of paper to use that was microwave safe, dishwasher safe, and food safe. Now I can't even think of the name of it, (lazertran?). Papillo was recommended by several people to me, but it wasn't guarenteed to be safe for all the things my pottery may be used for (water, micro, food...). Can someone tell me what paper they use or recommend for making their own decals?

I was curious about the reply on using a "decal"...I was interested in doing some decal work a while back but could only find one source (and not even close to local) of paper to use that was microwave safe, dishwasher safe, and food safe. Now I can't even think of the name of it, (lazertran?). Papillo was recommended by several people to me, but it wasn't guarenteed to be safe for all the things my pottery may be used for (water, micro, food...). Can someone tell me what paper they use or recommend for making their own decals?